Sports games are one genre you can count on to crank out a new game year after year after year. While some only see each new rendition as a slight facelift with new rosters, most games are tweaked with new features, physics, or graphics to make each iteration stand out. Sports games are as close as possible to controlling the real thing. But there's one thing that gets in the way: attributes.

One big change to the MLB: The Show series that kind of flew under the radar was the change from the attributes being measured with bars to using actual numbers. When I heard of the change, I was ecstatic. Nothing is worse than trying to compare players by how long their bars are. The bars obviously represent a number, so it was good on Sony San Diego to make the switch. Eventually though, a thought dawned on me. These attributes make it impossible to make a game truly realistic. If sports games want to reach the next echelon of realism, they need to remove all the crazy attributes.

Do you even know how many attributes are in Madden? According to this website, there are FIFTY different attributes a player can have. they range from your average "toughness" and "awareness" to "Old Spice Swagger." I'm not even making that up. What's ridiculous is that every single player, regardless of position, is rated on every single attribute. Kickers get rated on their block-shedding and hit power and quarterbacks have kick-accuracy. Why?

In real life sports players range from very slow to very fast. (Duh). But why do sports games need to make a distinction between a player who has a 95 speed and a 96 speed? It makes sense in a video game because each player is programmed to be slightly faster than another, but in real life general managers don't have these trusty numbers to tell exactly what ratings a player has. and that's what ruins the realism for me.

Say I'm the GM for the Twins in MLB: The Show. I have to decide between re-signing Justin Morneau to a new contract, or signing another free agent. Just for fun let's say Paul Konerko (ignore the fact that he won't be a free agent this offseason). Let's say Morneau hit .347 with 42 home runs and 132 RBIs while Konerko slumped and hit only .254 with 15 home runs and 74 RBIs. In real life, the decision would be a no-brainer. you'd sign Morneau because of his much better stats. But in video games, things are different because of those numerous attributes.

Say that you instead compare the attributes between Morneau and Konerko. The statistics don't really mean anything when you have attributes that strictly define who's better at what. You find that Konerko has a contact rating of 90 and a power rating of 95 while Morneau has a contact rating of 74 and a power rating of 82. then the choice becomes much more difficult because of these numbers put in by Sony San Diego. Sure Morneau had an awesome season, but Konerko is the better player. Then the decision becomes a no-brainer to sign Konerko.

With these attributes in the game, you know exactly what you are getting in a player because you know exactly how good there are down to the most minute detail. In real life R.A. Dickey won the Cy Young award and his attributes are probably really high in The Show. He's probably really dominant in the game. In real life, there's no such thing as attributes and Dickey is struggling. I bet he wishes he could consistently throw the same every game. That's the kind of unpredictability that attributes can't predict.

The best solution would be to ditch the attributes. Leave the player with statistics and only statistics to guide which players are better in the game. Of course the attributes will have to exist for the game to know that Albert Pujols is more powerful than Ben Revere, but keep them hidden. In real life, players are scouted and you can find out who's strong, fast, whatever. Put those in the game. In real life Pujols is slow and Revere is fast. that's as far as the distinctions need to go.

Attributes leave no room for slumps or hot streaks. They are a definitive number in a world of variables. In the unpredictability of sport, why in the world would you make everything so static and absolute? Ditch the attributes, leave the statistics, enjoy the realism.